Are you kidding me?
by JavaJunkieJunkie
Summary: “Please Lorelai don’t do this, don’t run away like I did.” He begged, his blue eyes with a hint of fear in them. A OneShot, Lorelai finds out about April.


Very slight spoilers, you probably won't even notice them, unless you already know them.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The diner was just emptied by Luke, leaving only Luke, Lorelai and April. That didn't stop the town from nonchalantly standing in front of it listening carefully. It was beginning to look less casual now that the majority of the town had gathered there.

"Are you frickin kidding me?" Lorelai screamed. Now completely ignoring the fact that April was there.

"Lorelai please?" Luke begged.

"No, not this time Luke! What the hell was that honesty bullshit about? Huh Luke? When you said _we_ should be honest with each other I naturally assumed that meant both of us, not just me Luke!" Lorelai continued her verbal assault on Luke.

"Lorelai, I'm sorry."

"No Luke, you have a kid and you didn't tell me. You felt like you couldn't trust me with that Luke. I have a kid too, I would have understand." Lorelai was beginning to sound defeated. (A/N: Much like the garage scene in Jews……)

"Then please understand now, Lorelai I didn't want to ruin us." Luke was pleading by now.

"How long have you known Luke?"

"Since the day Rory came back." Luke said quietly.

"When Rory came back!" Lorelai was yelling again. "The day two months ago that she came back? Two months Luke? Two months? Luke I told you about Christopher. I told you we met up to talk. I told you in spite of you hating him." Then the realization hit her. "That's why you were so okay with him paying for Yale, you were trying to make up for lying to me. Weren't you?" Lorelai was back to screaming, during her tirade she had been teetering on angry and hurt.

"You told me after you met with him! You hid it from me until after, Lorelai. You know I hate Christopher and how it would kill me for you to meet with him, so you hid it." Luke screamed. Lorelai snorted.

"Yeah Luke, I hid it for a day not two damn months!" Lorelai said with a cross of anger and disbelief in her voice. "You can't turn this around Luke, I met Chris for lunch. You kept the fact that you had an eleven-year-old daughter from me!" She paused waiting for him to say anything; he only bowed his head in defeat. She sighed. "You know what, I can't be around you right now, not after this." Luke looked shocked.

"Please Lorelai don't do this, don't run away like I did." He begged, his blue eyes with a hint of fear in them. This caught Lorelai by surprise, she could never remember him looking so scared before. She stood there staring at him for a minute. The look in her eyes it was scared him, she was mad, not just upset or angry, her eyes screamed pissed off, with a little disappointed mixed in. At that second, he would have admitted he was scared, scared of what that look meant for _them_. "Please Lorelai."

"Not right now Luke. It was nice meeting you April. I am sure you are a great little girl." Lorelai quickly kissed Luke and walked out of the diner.

Luke stood there debating upon whether or not to go after her. He wanted to but was afraid if he did, things would end up like when he needed space and she didn't give it to him. Luke turned and saw April; he just looked at the girl and sighed.

"I'm sorry Luke. I never should have come in here." April apologized.

"No April it's not you. Lorelai saying goodbye to you was supposed to let you know that it wasn't about you." Luke whispered, know that is why Lorelai said it. "And in case you missed this part of the conversation, she's mad at me for not telling her _about _you. Not about you being my kid and being here." The two sat in silence for a little bit longer, Luke staring after where Lorelai had been. "You want something to eat?" He finally asked.

"Sure. Just some fries." With that Luke walked into the kitchen, and the townspeople took this as there cue to come back in. They tentatively walked in, hushed whispers about what had happened. A few of the townsfolk stayed away out of respect for or fear of Luke.

Luke walked slowly home, it was early, Caesar had kicked him out. He was almost afraid of what he would find once he got home. He was a little worried he'd get there and the locks would be changed, but even more he was worried he'd walk in and Lorelai and her things would be gone. Luke was home before he even realized it. He stopped in front of the door and took a deep breath preparing himself, whether the locks be changed, Lorelai be gone, or she was waiting for him full of rage, he needed to be prepared. He turned the knob, it turned, he breathed out a little at that. He really didn't expect Lorelai to have up and left him, so the fact that the locks weren't changed was a good sign.

He cautiously walked in, taking in his surroundings, looking for anything out of the ordinary. He called out for Lorelai, no answer, he started to get nervous. He walked up the stairs thinking maybe she was in the bathtub. He walked into their bedroom; he noticed right away something was off but couldn't quite figure out what. He walked into the bathroom, disappointment set in as he realized she wasn't home. He began to walk out of the bathroom when he noticed that her makeup and glasses were gone. He walked back out to the bedroom slowly, realizing now what was wrong, there was a gap in the closet were her work clothes hung. He also noticed that her overnight bag was gone. He sat down slowly on the bed terrified, his worst fear was playing out before him. He walked back down stairs looking for any note, something she may have left for him.

Walking down the stairs he noticed that there were messages on the machine. He rushed to it and pushed the play button. Her voice filled the room.

"Luke, we'll talk more later I promise." And that was it, he breathed a sigh of relief, she was coming back. He was thankful she had left him that message; she must have known where his mind immediately went. Then another message started to play.

"Lorelai, it's Sookie, I heard what happened. Your cell phone is off, I hope you are okay. Call me if you need me. Luke you too, I'm here for you too." This made Luke nervous he figured that Lorelai would have told Sookie where she was.

"Luke, it's Rory, I tried calling Mom, but her phone was off. I called the Inn and Sookie told me that something had happened, she wouldn't say what. Luke I hope everything is okay. Please call me when you get a chance." That was the end of the messages; the last two had made Luke feel worse. He picked up the phone.

"Luke?" Rory sounded almost panicked.

"Yeah Rory it's me."

"What's going on there? Should I come home does Mom need me? Do you?" She rambled off.

"We're fine here kid. Just a misunderstanding that the town blew out of proportion." Luke lied.

"So you and mom are fine?" Rory asked.

"Yeah we are." Luke answered absently.

"Luke, don't lie to me. Sookie told me Mom is MIA." Luke sighed at this, stupid town ruining everything.

"She just called Rory, she's fine, we're fine."

"Luke what happened?"

"I'll fill you in later kid. I just can't do this anymore today." Luke said quietly. This made Rory nervous, Luke wasn't the type to show any emotion, and in his voice Rory could hear sadness, panic, disappointment, and frustration. All things you never saw in the quiet diner owner.

"Alright Luke, well then I guess I'll be talking to you later" Rory paused slightly and then continued "…she didn't really call did she?"

"No Rory, she didn't, she left me a message before I got home. I'm gonna go Ror. I'll talk to you later." He sounded so defeated.

"Okay, bye Luke…..Hey Luke, call me if you need anything." And with that the two hung up. Before setting the phone down Luke dialed again.

"Dragonfly, Michel speaking."

"Michel, it's Luke."

"Ah Luke, how nice of you to check in, if only now we could get that fiancée of yours to do the same." Michel said with his normal condescending tone.

"Lorelai's not there?" Luke said alarmed.

"Ah so it seems you did not know that." Michel said almost cheerily.

"No Michel I did not." Luke said with a finality to his voice. Michel had earlier heard some gossip but ignored it. It was with Luke's voice that Michel realized that this was big and would affect the entire town, and thus him.

"I'll call you if she shows up tonight, or when she comes in tomorrow." Michel said with some sympathy for a change. While he didn't seem to care much about anyone or thing, he did, and he knew when to let it show.

"Thank you Michel." Luke said as he hung up.

Luke spent the night staring at the ceiling, wondering what was going to happen. When his alarm went off early he got up to go to work. She hadn't come home and she wasn't at the Inn, he couldn't figure out where she was. She would be getting to work around 8am so then at least he would know where she was. But at 8am when Michel didn't call Luke got nervous again, but then figured that Michel probably forgot.

At 10am Michel finally called.

"Luke's"

"Luke its Michel. Sookie just told me that Lorelai called her this morning to tell her that she wasn't coming in today."

"Michel can I talk to Sookie." With some shuffling and a little arguing Sookie finally come on the phone.

"Luke?"

"Sookie, she didn't come home, and she's not at work."

"I know Hun, she called me to tell me she wasn't coming in today. I tried to find out where she was, but she wouldn't tell me. I'm sorry."

"It's okay Sookie, Its my own fault. If you here from her tell her I'm worried about her….And Sook, tell her that I miss her and I am sorry."

Two days later and no Lorelai, she would call Sookie in the morning, stop by the house and the Inn secretively during the day to pick up clothes and paper work, and go back to wherever she was hiding out. Every afternoon she would leave Luke a message promising to come home when she was ready and that she wasn't leaving him. He was beginning to think these were empty promises.

Two and a half days without seeing Lorelai, Luke was depressed. He wasn't going to go to work but he knew Lorelai would need to pick up some things from home, and he didn't want to suffocate her into an end. As much as he just needed to see her he was more worried about pushing her away than he was about his need to see her.

He was moping around the diner, Caesar and Lane having banned him from dealing with customers and cooking. He was left to wander around the diner, every once and a while going up to his apartment, just to come back down later looking more depressed. He tried to keep busy doing odds and ends, he was wiping tables and stocking the storeroom and that's it. He was in the storeroom when Lane came to get him.

"Luke, we need you out here." Luke was confused, the diner was silent, why was he needed. He stopped as he neared the dining area; there she was, standing just inside the door, looking sheepish. The rest of the diner was just staring, heads going from Luke to Lorelai, back to Luke. He was so happy she came back; he was beginning to think she wouldn't. He was so angry with her; she left without word for two and a half days. He walked a little closer to her, with each step his anger with her rising.

"Lorelai where the hell were you? You just left! You didn't tell anyone where you were! What if something happened?"

"I am so sorry. I wanted you to know I was okay, that's why I called Sookie." She apologized softly.

"If you wanted me to know you were okay, why didn't you call me?" Luke yelled harshly, startling everyone in the diner.

"I did call you." Lorelai said even softer.

"No Lorelai you left me messages. I needed to talk to you! I needed to know where you were so I could sleep at night." Luke sounded absolutely crushed. Lorelai finally met his eye, and she noticed he looked extremely tired.

"I'm sorry." She said quietly. He was preparing to yell that sorry doesn't always cut it, but noticed the hurt, confusion, and remorse in her eyes. Worst of all he could see the tears above the rest that she was fighting hard to keep in. He caved, Lorelai was strong, he had only seen her this upset maybe three times. And he just couldn't be the one that made her cry. He closed the gap between them and enveloped her into a tight embrace.

Her words from earlier surfaced in his mind. "See, once we're married, you won't be able to run away to your clubhouse anymore." He said while cupping her face, his forehead touching hers, he didn't really care that the rest of Stars Hollow was listening.

"I know and I am sorry. But you kept that you had a daughter from me, it made me think maybe you were hiding something else from me." The tears prevalent in her eyes. "I knew I was being stupid, but for some reason I couldn't face you."

"You can always face me, you can yell, you can scream, I'll probably yell and scream right back atcha, you've experienced that before. But you gotta come back so I know you're not leaving me." Luke smiled.

"I'd never leave you, well permanently and I am done running even for a day. I'm here for good." They both smiled at this.

"I am so glad you are back. God, you had me so worried." He finally took his forehead from Lorelai's just long enough to yell to Caesar and Lane that he was leaving. After they left word spread like wildfire that all was right in Stars Hollow again.

They arrive home via Lorelai's jeep. They talked for hours about what April meant to their relationship, what Christopher paying for Yale meant, how this time they really needed to be honest, both of them, and how neither of them had slept in three nights. They also agreed that there would be no more space, if one of them needed space the farthest they were allowed was the upstairs guest bedroom. Before they went to bed that night though, they proved the old adage that making up was the best that it could be. (Wink wink!)

The next morning Lorelai woke up first, neither had planned on going into work today. She lazily stared at Luke, watching him sleep peacefully. He started to stir a little bit, but wasn't quite ready to get up. She started to wake him, lightly kissing his shoulder, then his jaw line. He was stirring more now, she continued kissing him, until he finally woke up.

"I want to re-meet her." As soon as his eyes opened Lorelai said this.

"Who?" Luke asked confused.

"April, and Jesus, I am turning into my parents, needing to re-meet someone." Lorelai giggled happily.

"Of course, I'll give her a call and see if she can meet us at the diner." Luke replied just as happily. He knew Lorelai didn't have a problem with the little girl, but he wasn't sure if maybe he resented her for him lying about it. She was reaching out to his daughter happily, which made him happy.

About two hours later Luke and Lorelai were both ready, and were supposed to meet April in half an hour. The two walked out of the house and leisurely walked to the diner holding hands. Very un-Luke-like, but he was so glad she was back he wanted to hang on to her. Once at the diner Lorelai opted for a table instead of her normal stool. Luke got her some coffee and two glasses of juice one for him and one for April when she got there. Once he had the drinks on the table he went back for a plate of donuts.

"Luke, sit down, you are not working you are here meeting with your family." Luke smiled at the way she had said family.

"Alright no donuts for you then." He said walking back.

"No, no you misunderstood I meant get the donuts then come back." Lorelai grinned seductively at him. He smiled back, a real smile, and went back to get the donuts. He brought the donuts back to her and sat down. The two talked quietly ignoring the stares from the other patrons. April showed up right on time, she looked nervously at Luke and then Lorelai. But in return she got warm smiles from both. Lorelai waved her over and April sat down slowly.

"Hey! I'm sure you know this, but I am Lorelai, Luke's fiancée, I'm glad you came."

"I'm glad I came too." And with that April finally smiled back at Lorelai.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

A/N: I HATE this storyline, I think it's stupid, but this is my way to make it play out. I highly doubt Lorelai would get that mad, but it just kind of came to me.

Review please. In four days I have turned into a review junkie, pathetic, enable me please!


End file.
